By some trickery it has been a year and half since Evelyn was born. Five hundred and forty-eight days have passed since I heard her shrill cry and held her warm body against mine. In those 548 days I believe I have changed twice as many diapers, done triple that amount of laundry, lost countless hours of sleep, and undoubtedly my heart has grown at least 548 sizes.

And her absolute favorite word–beebee, which means give me your phone I want to watch videos of myself. Truly we go through this about 10 times a day to the point where we have to hide our phones. She will giggle and laugh and show you which videos she wants to watch. And it can’t be videos of just any baby, it has to be her, YouTube babies aren’t good enough for our little princess

She is giggly, loving, curious, independent, smart, and consistently a joy. In the past year and a half there have only been two times I can remember where I would have called her “fussy” and in both situations she had an ear infection and after one day of medicine she was back to her normal bubbly self.

She is a wonderful sleeper, 12-13 hours at night plus 2-3 hours during the day, and is as good of an eater as you would expect her to be with two self-proclaimed picky eaters as parents. She would spend every day eating kiwis, oranges, and bread, and every sleep packing her crib full of all the stuffed animals, blankets, and books if we’d let her.

Evelyn loves to be outside. She will bring you her shoes (matching ones!!) and point to her jackets as if to ask if she needs one. Then she’ll drag you by the fingers over to the door until you take her outside. She has begun to attempt to open the door handle, but thankfully her height fails her by just a hair. She loves to “run” (she walks with her arms pushed back behind her as if it makes her go faster), go down slides at the playground, and rock on our front porch. She has enjoyed helping Steve in our garden that currently has onions in it and is being eyed by our HOA–apparently we were supposed to fill out a form to ask permission for a garden…woomp woomp oops.

Evelyn continues to adore animals. She loves on Gracie constantly and will face Gracie nose to snout and wrap her little arms directly around her neck. Evelyn will seek Gracie out when Gracie is resting so that she can lay next to her and Gracie will do the same to Evelyn. Evelyn has recently discovered where we keep the dog food and will pull out one morsel at a time and feed it to Gracie while laughing hysterically. Beau still doesn’t know what to think of Evelyn so their relationship consists of Evelyn running with her arms out towards Beau and Beau circling the kitchen table until I finally release him from his misery and let him outside. Then Evelyn stands at the door wondering why she can’t go outside with him. We also have a neighborhood cat that Evelyn absolutely loves. She giggles and bends down so she’s on the cats level and beams from ear to ear. I’m going to have to post the video, it’s too cute not to share.

Evelyn is certainly learning what she likes and doesn’t like and what she wants and when she wants it. I often let her point to what she wants to wear in her closet and 9 times out of 10 it’s either a pair of pink overalls or her Cam Newton jersey, I can’t fault her for either because they’re both adorable. She will choose Steve over me 99.9% of the time, unless of course I’m right in the middle of trying to get something done and then she wants me. And of course I drop everything and take what I can get, no shame in my desperation. She likes to stand in chairs and cries when we tell her to sit and has thrown herself on the floor in a fit of despair a handful of times. But even these moments are endearing because she has the cutest pouty face.

It’s been a year and a half of learning, love, and lots of grace. So today, April 14th 2016, it is a beautiful spring Thursday and I wish you the happiest of year and a half birthday’s Evelyn. I love watching you grow and learn; you are so smart, you take everything in and pick up new words and actions after we’ve shown you only once or twice. I love the nights you let me put you to bed when we rock and read, and then sway and sing until your eyes get heavy and you finally point to your crib. I love the fun we have when you sit on the counter with me while I’m cutting up food or doing the dishes. I love the way you giggle and stomp your feet when you get excited, especially when it’s in response to seeing me. I love watching you love on your baby dolls and animals. I love the way you dip your food into sauces when we’re out to lunch with Grandpa Grumple or at Chickfila playdates. I love that you give hugs and blow kisses freely. You’re an angel and life would be incomplete without you. Happy 548th day on this Earth little girl, I can’t wait to see what you do in your next 36,000.